Pierre-Louis Loubet poorly rewarded in Finland

For his 5^e appearance in the world this season with the Puma hybrid, Pierre-Louis Loubet (M-Sport) was tackling a big piece. In five previous participations in Jyväskylä, he had always operated small cars (DS3 R3, DS3 R5, Fiesta R5, i20 R5 and Fabia R5) and the Corsican knew that the challenge would be significant. “ Compared to Estonia, I changed a lot of things on the car and I wanted to see if it was going in the right direction during the shakedownhe explained. It was important to check the set-up. The feeling was encouraging. » His first morning confirmed his good feelings, even if everything was not perfect with a brush against a stone and a capricious starting strategy.

The rest of his performance made Richard Millener very worried. “ We need to talk to him, révélait le team manager de M-Sport. At this pace, he won't finish the race. This may happen some times, but there always comes a time when the sanction finally falls. » What the Englishman wanted to avoid was to see the Puma again in positions on the edge of leaving the road like in SS10, where the Frenchman visited the right side of the road, then the left. Trying not to perform any new tricks, Loubet carefully negotiated the second stage with a small internal battle with Fergus Greensmith. “ We fulfilled our quota of stupidity on Friday, joked the one who appears much more fulfilled this season. With the presence of rain, I reduced my pace a little. I tried to drive without making any mistakes and only missed two intersections. For his part, Gus rode really well, so it's logical that he passed us. »

Impressed by the speed

« For my debut here with a big car, I was surprised by the speed, he revealed. This is the first time I've gotten into a car and thought, this is crazy. I couldn't imagine it would go so quickly. It's the most extreme thing I've done. It's an experience that I'm happy to have. It's not easy for everyone. » Happy with his weekend, Pierre-Louis Loubet headed towards the 8^e final rank, when he was stopped by an electrical problem. “ It's disappointing to end the event this way, but these are problems that can occur, he concluded. For a discovery with the Rally1, it didn't go so bad overall. Our next meeting will be Rally from Greece (September 8-11), where I think I will be more comfortable. » After the Acropolis, the Frenchman will be present in Catalunya.

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